Strawberry Bran Muffins

We went strawberry picking this weekend.

I was excited to go.

These are things that would never have excited me before I had a kid.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about being a parent, it’s this -- entertaining a busy child is necessary for parental sanity. I like to call it killing time. In the process, my kid learns stuff and we spend time together as a family.

We picked at Whittamore’s in Scarborough, which is very close to the Toronto Zoo. A full listing of Ontario pick-your-own farms is available at Harvest Ontario. Outside of Ontario, you can check out pickyourown.org.

Our first outing to the strawberry field proved three things:

1. My husband is a strawberry picking ninja. Pure focus and stealth on the field. I just stood there sampling his handiwork and soaking in the sun.
2. It’s impossible to stick to the “no eating” policy with a three year old. Exhibit A below.
3. Other pickers can be vicious. We were, in fact, told by a woman to move out of her lane and stick to the one we were (apparently) assigned. I suppose there are not enough strawberries to go around in a 200+ acre farm.

We walked out of there with seven pounds of strawberries and likely another pound in my kid’s belly. The cost was just under $16.

I got home and stared at the massive bucket. What the hell am I going to do with all these berries?!

I am not brave enough to make jam, so I decided to wash, hull and freeze some. Then I baked. As I’ve said before, I’m not much of a baker. Cookies, loaves and muffins are the only baked goods I can (sometimes) pull off. I Googled strawberry muffins and came across a few options as a starting point. I can never stick to a recipe (which is probably why I’m such a terrible baker), so I concocted this one and the result was a fab sugar free, unbelievably moist muffin.

Strawberry Bran Muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup All-Bran Original cereal (or wheat bran of your choice)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup applesauce
1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries

Preheat oven to 400˚F. Paper line your muffin tin. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. In a large bowl, mix the milk with the All-Bran. Let it soften for a few minutes. Add in the sour cream, honey, applesauce, oil and eggs. Stir well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just until moist. Add in the strawberries. Spoon the batter into prepared muffin tin, about 3/4 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Makes 15 nicely sized muffins. Due to the sour cream, these will keep for only 3 days on the counter in an air tight container, but they freeze well!

Happy summer!